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LMP1 – Le Mans 24 Hours
Lotus-Rebellion finished fourth overall at Le
Mans and were the only team to break Audi’s
domination. The #12 car was also the
first-placed petrol-engined machine. Both cars
entered reached the finish line, and took first
and third place in the LMP1 Privateer FIA WEC
category. The team has extended its lead in the
LMP1 Privateer championship.
The #12 Toyota-powered Lotus-Rebellion driven by
Nick Heidfeld, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost and
#13 sister car driven by Andrea Belicchi, Harold
Primat and Jeroen Bleekemolen were never out the
top 8 (including the six Audi and Toyota factory
cars) during the first four hours of the race.
With mechanical and traffic issues for the
factory cars, the two black and gold livered
prototypes were strongly positioned in the top
six from the sixth hour.
After the early retirement of both factory
Toyota Hybrids, Lotus-Rebellion was the only
team to break the Audi stranglehold with car #12
running fourth from the seventh hour. The night
proved trouble-free, and #12 broke through the
dawn still in fourth and resisting pressure from
the #3 Audi R18 Ultra. The sister Rebellion was
starting to have clutch issues and, with just
five hours to go, was pushed into the pits for
37 minutes while the crew took apart the rear of
the car and gearbox to replace the clutch. The
car emerged P11 overall. The final two hours
were intense for the Swiss team. The #13 car
pushed its way up to the Privateer Trophy
podium. Meanwhile, Audi were hunting down a
perfect top four lock-out at the front, and the
Lotus-Rebellion was in the way. Neel Jani
responded by setting lap times even quicker than
qualifying, and then handed over to local
favourite Nicolas Prost who took the chequered
flag, maintaining the team’s hard-fought
fourth-place.
Bart Hayden, team manager: “To secure fourth
place overall at the Le Mans 24 Hours among Audi
factory cars is just reward for the immense
effort, contribution, dedication and
determination of each and every member of our
team. I am deeply proud of what we have achieved
as a team. As announced before the season our
aim was to repeat our 2011 result at Le Mans and
win the FIA WEC Trophy for best Privateer. We
are now in a good position to secure both of
them after this Le Mans result.”
LMP2 – Le Mans 24 Hours
Lotus suffered a terminal gearbox failure half
way through the Le Mans 24 Hours, and despite
the crew’s best efforts were unable to return to
the race. Until then the car had been running
soundly in 14th class position. Thomas Holzer
had put the car 17th on the grid after an engine
failure in the second of three qualifying
sessions. The team climbed three places from
there in the race, Holzer handing over to Mirco
Schultis who in turn passed the baton to
team-mate Luca Moro, who was lapping the circuit
when a long safety car period was prompted by
Anthony Davidson’s dramatic accident. The team
used this opportunity for a small pit stop
service but, as night fell, the gearbox gremlins
crept in and Lotus’s participation in this 80th
edition of the 24 Hours was over.
IndyCar – Milwaukee Indyfest
IndyCars don’t race in the wet, so the Milwaukee
Indyfest faced a 90 minute delay as scattered
showers left the crews huddling in the pits. But,
at 2:02pm and in muggy 83 degree conditions, the
racing finally got underway. With the rain
washing off the track rubber from earlier, all
the Indy Cars were looking at a green track that
would be eating up the tyres much quicker than
expected. After 60 laps, Simona De Silvestro
(#78 – Lotus HVM Racing) had moved up one
position, and while trying to manage the tyres,
she was heard repeating many times over the
radio: “The car is loose!”
A few laps later, Simona pitted. The Lotus HVM
Racing team gave her a new set of tyres and she
rejoined the field. On Lap 67, the Lotus driver
got into the marbles, spun and brushed the wall
in Turn 3. This brought out the first caution
flag, and put her in 24th position. She was
taken to the medical centre, checked and
released. De Silvestro has been cleared to drive
in the upcoming race next week.
Simona de Silvestro: “It was my fault. TK [Tony
Kanaan] passed me and Oriol [Servia] tried to
tuck behind him, and I just got in the marbles.
It's just unfortunate. Sometimes you make
mistakes; that's what happens. There were lots
of marbles out there, and I wasn’t much off-line
either. I guess I need to learn from my mistake
here, and move on.”
Claudio Berro, director of Lotus Racing: “Lotus
had a strong presence at Le Mans this year with
two teams and three cars, spanning both LMP1 and
LMP2. Lotus-Rebellion’s result is the best we
could have possibly hoped for; best of the
privateers and the only team to spoil Audi’s
perfect day. Well done to our LMP2 crew too who
showed true fighting spirit and were gutted to
be out of the race by halfway due to gearbox
issues.” |
